excerpt from an essay I wrote for a class

First of all I think that you are correct in reference to media saturation. Every day we are bombarded with instances of human misery, suffering, and tragedy. Perhaps one reaches a point when it becomes emotionally unbearable to react to each instance and instead a “numbness” sets in as a psychic defense mechanism.

My experience of 9/11 comes to mind here. The experience of watching the event on television made it seem somewhat unreal, or as Baudrillard might call it “hyperreal.” At the time I tuned in the media was reporting that an explosion had taken place in one of the towers of the WTC. So, here I am sitting uncomprehendingly on my couch in my living room watching these events unfold LIVE, in REAL time. I watched in mute silence as the second plane hit, the towers collapsed, and thousands of people died right before my eyes. To top it off, the President comes on and urges us to do our patriotic duty and go shopping. I feel like it’s all some kind of obscene joke….